<p>The Ballad of Love’s Skeleton (179–)</p><p>‘Come, let’s to Culliford Hill and Wood, And watch the squirrels climb, And look in sunny places there For shepherds’ thyme.’</p><p>– ‘Can I have heart for Culliford Wood, And hill and bank and tree, Who know and ponder over all Things done by me!’</p><p>– ‘Then Dear, don hat, and come along: We’ll strut the Royal strand; King George has just arrived, his Court, His guards, and band.’</p><p>– ‘You are a Baron of the King’s Court From Hanover lately come, And can forget in song and dance What chills me numb.</p><p>‘Well be the royal scenes for you, And band beyond compare, But how is she who hates her crime To frolic there?</p><p>‘O why did you so urge and say ’Twould soil your noble name! – I should have prized a little child, And faced the shame.</p><p>‘I see the child – that should have been, But was not, born alive; With such a deed in a woman’s life A year seems five.</p><p>‘I asked not for the wifely rank, Nor maiden honour saved; To call a nestling thing my own Was all I craved.</p><p>‘For what’s the hurt of shame to one Of no more note than me? Can littlest life beneath the sun More littled be?’</p><p>– ‘Nay, never grieve. The day is bright, Just as it was ere then: In the Assembly Rooms to-night Let’s joy again! ‘The new Quick-Step is the sweetest dance For lively toes and heels; And when we tire of that we’ll prance Bewitching reels.</p><p>‘Dear, never grieve! As once we whirled So let us whirl to-night, Forgetting all things save ourselves Till dawning light.</p><p>‘The King and Queen, Princesses three, Have promised to meet there The mayor and townsfolk. I’ve my card And One to spare.</p><p>‘The Court will dance at the upper end; Only a cord between Them and the burgher-throng below; A brilliant scene!’</p><p>– ‘I’ll go. You’ve still my heart in thrall: Save you, all’s dark to me. And God knows what, when love is all, The end will be!’</p>